Basilisk: The Knowing
by SheWolfShaman
Summary: Sequel to Basilisk: The Calling... Berk has fallen. They're all on the run, with the promise of building an army hanging over their heads. The wars have begun, and everyone is in danger of being the next victim. Everyone's fate now rests in the hands of a group of teenagers. Can they create an army? Or is their biggest challenge going to be simply surviving?
1. And So It Begins

**(A/N) Basilisk: The Knowing is here!**

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_**Chapter 1 And So It Begins**_

Starsong had no knowledge of the distance that passed, nor the time it took for them to arrive. She found herself not caring, so long as the girl was with her. Her wings were aching from the cold waters she had swum through with a ferocity she hadn't matched for quite awhile. Her eyes were tired from the long journey, but she kept them open in alert watchfulness. Her eyes swiveled to the right. Her girl, eyes red from sleepless nights, still rode calmly and stiffly upon the grayish green and purple Monstrous Nightmare, Zephyr, whom she had commandeered during the battle. Her girl was still upon the dragon, and she was still safe. Still, Starsong would not allow herself rest, not until she had seen her girl through to the mainland.

Her girl. The thought of it chilled her, for good or bad reasons, she did not know. Only two months ago, Starsong had been a nameless young dragon juvenile, living in the wild. Then, one day, as she swam through the ripping autumn currents near the beach she lived by, Starsong came across a scent in the water, of human. Although she would usually turn away from the scent in fear, she also smelled panic and terror laced in the human's scent. Still, Starsong was quite nervous, and had decided she would just leave. Then, there was this deep voice inside her head that echoed with each sound it made. _Do not fear, young Firebreather. Save her._

That started it all. Starsong found her passed out in the water, broken and bloody, and she carried her to shore with a gentle speed. She stayed with the human, keeping her warm until she began to wake up. That was when Starsong had left her, but she could tell the human knew that she'd been there. Even though Starsong saved her, the girl was still just a human to her. Then she became her Master, something only Firebreathers that have befriended a human can call their human. However, recently, Starsong had thought of Klara more and more as not just her Master, but her girl. The girl had been there for her, and now whatever the girl felt, it coiled around inside Starsong tenfold so that she could be there for her when she needed her dragon. Like now, for instance.

As she flew next to Klara and Zephyr, Starsong felt herself melt with the love she felt for the girl, and every now and then would glance at her. Soon, their flight had led them to a group of over a dozen dragons- Nadders, Nightmares, Zipplebacks, Gronkles, the whole lot- which was led by the large, well-fed blonde boy on his Gronkle. Fishlegs, Starsong knew was his name. She sensed relief flowing from this boy as he caught sight of their group, and flew over to join as they approached. Starsong heard him exchange words with them, but she didn't understand all of the words. She'd realized that the only one she could understand completely in both the human language and Dragonese was Klara. Starsong understood the words "hurt" and "alright" and "burn", but had no comprehension for other sounds, such as "enemy" and "killed" and "surrender". She was at a loss, but could sense their emotions and gathered that they were upset, probably about them not winning that battle. _It's okay_, Starsong wanted to tell them. _There were too many for us to fight._

Starsong sensed clouds of some kind of emotion coming off of each of them. From the siblings whom rode Barf and Belch, Ruffnut and Tuffnut she knew were their names, she felt a stinging anger. They seemed to be a moment away from snapping. From Snotlout, she felt rage, but also shame. From Hiccup, Starsong sensed a feeling of helplessness, made greater from looking at Astrid's injury. Astrid's features were twisted in pain from the bright red burn covering half her arm. Then there was her girl, Klara, who sat on Zephyr and sighed, looking back with her deep hazel eyes in the direction they had come. Starsong could still smell the smoke, still see the black cloud in the distance. Starsong felt a kind of strength coming from her that she'd never seen before, but she'd felt something similar to it coming from the Chief. However, Fishlegs perplexed her the most. Starsong sensed an odd emotion coming from him, strengthened when he looked at Klara. It was a kind of sadness, and a kind of happiness, all mixed up and confusing Starsong. He sighed, and anger now emitted from him in waves.

The group stopped talking, and Starsong now looked over to the group of dragons and human children they were leading. A few of the dragons, mostly Gronkles, were tiring from the weight of the children they were carrying. Being the courteous dragon Starsong was, she went up beside a couple of the Gronkles, taking her turn to carry the children. Two small boys and a blond girl hopped on her back, hugging each other and whimpering. She didn't know what it was with her and human children, but Starsong hated to see them afraid. She turned her head towards them, using her flexible neck to bring her head up beside them and lick them in the face. Starsong's heart bounced as they let out a few giggles.

After this, she went up beside Meatlug, Fishlegs' Gronkle. She still felt that despair flowing from the large boy. _"Meatlug, do you know what's wrong with Fishlegs?"_ Starsong asked.

_"He is angry, but I don't know why,"_ Meatlug answered. Meatlug didn't say anything else after that. Starsong could tell she was in the dark as well.

Starsong sensed the boy wasn't just angry from the lost battle, and that we were now running. There was something else that caused his anger, but she decided not to think too hard on it. They had more pressing matters at hand, such as getting to land.

Starsong looked at the back of Meatlug, and saw Axel sitting at the base of her tail. The dark gray wolf dog, whom she was good friends with, was strapped in the sitting position to the Gronkle so he would not fall off. Fishlegs had been carrying the human baby, whom Starsong could smell was related to Klara, also, but he gave the child back to Klara when they reunited with the group. Klara had the baby strapped to her back now. Axel looked at Starsong, anxiety written all over his intelligent green eyes, the same color as her own eyes. To sooth him, Starsong gave him a gentle lick over the ears.

He looked into her eyes, a question on his mind. _What is happening?_ he asked. To which she answered, _We can't live in that place right now. We are going away._ He sighed, seeming to understand, before laying down on the dragon he rode.

_"I wish I could tell you something different, Axel,"_ Starsong told him. _"I liked it on that island. It had plenty of prey, and nice Masters."_

_"What are you doing, Starsong? Blathering to a dumb dog?"_ Hookfang, Snotlout's crimson Monstrous Nightmare, called over to Starsong. Beside her, Axel growled a warning.

_"Like you're one to call him dumb!"_ she shouted back. _"You couldn't find your way out of an open cave to save your life!"_

_"You're all talk, you know that? You call me stupid, try to make me mad, then go running when I'm ready to fight. You're just all talk, no action,"_ he said, to which she rolled her eyes.

_"I make you mad, Hookfang, because it's fun to see you blow your top. I could fight you right now, and win, but I don't think the humans would appreciate that very much at the moment,"_ Starsong said, glancing at the anguished faces of their Masters.

_"I could take you in a fight, but it's dishonorable to fight a female. Especially one who's only a yearling,"_ he said, putting on a smile. The venom in his voice was gone, and now she could tell he was just teasing.

_"Believe what you will,"_ she replied, rolling her eyes again. _"We have to go faster, or we won't make it to the mainland before the children pass out from tiredness or Astrid falls off Stormfly,"_ Starsong said to Hookfang, who was now riding beside her.

_"Let's pick up the pace,"_ Toothless called to the dragons, having heard them in their conversation. He glided over next to them as the group began to fly faster. _"Astrid isn't doing well,"_ he said in his soft voice, looking over at the girl riding Stormfly. Her left arm was covered in dried blood, but the burn was no longer bleeding. It was bright red, blisters covering a large portion of the flesh. The skin was slightly blackened, showing how bad their escape from the burning home had actually been. Astrid was lucky to have escaped with her life, but now Starsong felt the girl growing weaker. Her body was sweating profusely with the pain the wound gave her, and in these cold temperatures sweat was no help to her. A bit had begun to freeze in her hair.

_"We have to get her to land, soon,"_ Starsong whispered. She knew how much Astrid meant to her girl. Whenever they were together, Starsong felt happiness bounce off of Klara for Astrid like it would for the human baby, or like the love Klara and Starsong felt for each other. They were much like clutch mates, or siblings, as the humans called it. _"Astrid can't keep going for much longer."_

She flew over to Klara and Zephyr next. Klara had been speaking with Hiccup, deciding on their course of action for when they reached the mainland. _Let's focus on getting there first,_ Starsong wanted to say. She sensed an emotion coming from Klara as she talked with Hiccup, similar to what Fishlegs had been feeling earlier, a happy-sad contradictory emotion. Starsong decided to just ignore this.

_"Klara, look at Astrid,"_ she said, interrupting them. Klara immediately stopped talking with Hiccup.

"What did she say?" Hiccup asked. Klara was the only one who could understand what Starsong, and all dragons, could say, she had come to realize. "What?"

Klara looked towards the blue Deadly Nadder and the blonde-haired girl riding the dragon, who seemed like she was about to lose consciousness and fall off. "It's Astrid. She's been up all night, and with a burn like that, she needs all the rest she can get."

"She's shivering really bad," Hiccup responded. "I have a blanket in the saddlebag." Hiccup pulled out a thick woolen blanket, the color of dead grass. Starsong watched as the boy handed it to Klara, the wind nearly knocking it out of her one hand.

"C'mon boy," Klara said, steering the Monstrous Nightmare next to Stormfly and Astrid. "That's it boy." With one careful leap, the girl landed on the back of the Deadly Nadder.

_"Gentle, please,"_ Stormfly muttered under her breath. _"I hope we get to the mainland soon."_

"Here you go, Astrid," Klara whispered as she wrapped the blanket around her. Starsong sensed a kind of anger, and shame, begin to flow from Astrid. She didn't like to be taken care of. Neither did any of the Vikings, but this feeling was particularly strong in Astrid. "Oh, stop moping," Starsong heard Klara tease.

"Whatever," Astrid spat back.

"Ooh, that's not very nice," Klara said, hiding the concern in her voice. She was right to be concerned. Just by taking a slight sniff, Starsong could tell Astrid was sick. Although she couldn't very well comprehend the conversation between the two, she could sense that Klara was pushing something.

"We'll be there soon," Klara said, before hopping back onto the Nightmare, Zephyr.

_"Will we?"_ asked the growling yet kind voice of Zephyr. _"I cannot see land anywhere."_

_"Well, how far away can you see things?"_ Starsong asked.

_"Oh, I don't know. I guess the question is, can any of the dragons see land?"_ Zephyr asked. _"Some of the dragons are tiring. Gronkles do not have the ability to glide like the rest of us, and they are losing strength in their wings."_

_"It's simple, then,"_ Klara said. _"If we want to make sure all of us arrive safely, some of the other dragons will have to carry the children, and give the Gronkles a rest."_

"_I'm already carrying three, you and Hiccup are each carrying four, and I don't think it's wise to carry more than a few each,"_ Starsong replied.

_"It won't be necessary,"_ Toothless said suddenly. _"I see something!"_

She turned to look past the clouds, in the distance. Finally, after hours of flying, the midday sun now shown down on distant land. _"Oh, thank Draco!"_ one of the dragons shouted with joy upon seeing it.

Not a moment too soon. As they approached the land- a flat forest-type landscape with mountains in the distance- and approached the brown sandy beaches, Stormfly landed lightly. Starsong saw her slipping, and reacted with lightning speed. She stretched out a broad wing, catching Astrid as she fell from her dragon. She landed on Starsong's wing with a dull thud. She allowed the children to jump off her back before approaching Astrid, laying on the beach. She just passed out…

_"Klara!"_ Starsong growled.

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"Oh, damn," I silently cursed. "She passed out."

"I can see that," Hiccup said, shaking his head as he bent down over the girl beside me, concern in his eyes. "What do we do?"

"Well, we can't stay here," I said as I looked around me at the beach. "This will flood when the tide comes in. We have to make camp in the forest, and she definitely needs a fire," I told them. Snotlout and Hiccup picked up the sleeping girl and placed her on top of Starsong. By gently folding her wing, Starsong cradled Astrid in and shielded her from the wind. _"Thanks, girl,"_ I whispered to Starsong. She gave me a smile, her sharp front teeth poking out of her mouth.

"How far in?" asked Tuffnut. "We're tired!"

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration, before I answered. "For now, not far. Everyone's tired, and I need to take a look at Astrid's burn." With that, Ruffnut slapped Tuff over the back of the head, and he was done complaining.

I looked at Astrid shivering, her hair frozen from sweating, thinking back to the previous night, where Berk was forced to surrender to the Outcast army, and we were sent on the run. Flashes of flames from burning homes, blood spraying the air, and the sea turning red as Starsong swum below, attempting to sink their countless ships. I remembered Astrid and myself narrowly dodging a piece of falling debris that was flaming as we ran from our burning house. I dodged the debris entirely, but Astrid got hit with it in the arm, giving her the massive burn. She was fortunate she escaped with just a burn, though, for the rubble could have easily taken her life.

We found camp a short distance into the forest, still close enough to the beach to see the sand, and Snotlout began to build up a fire using dry wood. I heard the comforting cracks of the wood splitting as the fire got hotter, and Hiccup and I placed the sleeping Astrid on the woolen blanket beside the warmth. Before I would do anything else, I immediately handed over the baby I was carrying to Hiccup.

"Here, take Erik," I said. Before he was able to argue, I put Erik in his arms. "This is all you have to do right now, so just hold him."

Hiccup sat down on a log beside the blanket, holding Erik awkwardly in his arms, as I took a peek at Astrid's arm. The sight didn't look too promising, for it had started to bleed again, renewing the dried red trail that snaked down her left arm.

"This is what I get for not wrapping the wound before we left Berk," I said in an annoyed whisper, then began to rummage through the satchel Eira, my friend and one of the older village healers, gave me. It consisted of remedies for fevers and infection, as well as sleeping aids and other medicines, but the amount of all of them were very low. Each little glass bottle only had a tiny amount left in it. Still, I pulled out a few bandages, dabbed some of the ointment on the sterile white cloth, and gently began to wrap Astrid's arm with it.

Something else came to mind as I ran through the medicines, a few of my Nana's old recipes for poultices, remedies, and any kind of medicine. All were made of plants found in forest and meadow settings, and I had learned to make them on a few occasions where Dad took me into the woods.

"Looks like I have a little trip to make," I whispered to myself. My eyes ventured up to the blue sky, where the sun was still relatively high. It would be a few more hours until sunset. Perfect.

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**(A/N) There it is! Chapter 1 of Basilisk: The Knowing! How did you guys feel about this chapter?**


	2. Remembering Past Gifts

**(A/N) Hello peoples! Yeah, sorry it's been awhile since my last update, but I'll make it up to you with this chapter. Okay... so... here you go.**

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_**Chapter 2 Remembering Past Gifts**_

"Fishlegs?" I called over my shoulder as I began to place the medicine bottles back into the leather satchel.

"Yeah?" he responded as he walked up to me, holding the saddle he had just taken off of Meatlug. "Do you… uh… need something?"

"Do you still have your book on botany?" I asked him. "I need to make some more medicines, and it might help out to have a book on plants."

Fishlegs dug through his bag, coming up with the small book bound tightly with dark brown leather. "Is this what you're looking for?" he asked, handing me the book. I smiled, flipping through the pages that were filled with all odd plants, some that I've seen and others I'd never before witnessed. I handed it back to him.

"Do you think you could give me a hand with collecting the plants?" I asked. For some reason, he flashed an overly large smile.

"Sure!" he exclaimed.

"Okay, we'll go on foot. The dragons wouldn't be very helpful with collecting ground plants anyway," I began, then turned to Snotlout. "You, keep an eye on Astrid. I think she's sick." Snotlout put on a stupid looking grin, then sat down next to the sleeping Astrid.

"Wait, I can do that-" Hiccup began to protest, but I put a hand up to silence him.

"Hiccup, you're on baby duty," I said, pointing to Erik, who was asleep in Hiccup's arms. "If you think I'm going to trust my baby cousin to anyone other than yourself, you have less brains than Tuffnut."

"Hey!" I heard Tuffnut protest, right before his sister knocked him to the ground with her vicious right jab. "Oh, it is on!" he shouted, before trying to tackle Ruffnut, who sidestepped away from him. Instead of throwing his twin to the ground, Tuff ended up falling into a thorn bush. "Oh, I'm hurt! I am very much hurt!"

"I see your point… but why Snotlout?" Hiccup whined. I rolled my eyes, unsure of why he was making such a big deal out of this.

"I gave him a job where I am sure he won't slack off," I said, then pulled Hiccup to the side. "Besides, I can't wait to see Astrid's face when the first thing she sees when she wakes up is that," I pointed over to Snotlout, who was flexing his muscles and kissing his biceps while looking at himself in a frozen puddle. I had to stifle my laughter.

Hiccup looked at me oddly. "I can't believe we are following your lead… You're playing pranks on us," he said in a teasing fashion.

"Hey, am I not allowed to have fun on the job? If I'm not fit to be leader, just remember, you guys are the ones who are actually listening to me," I turned the tables.

"Yeah I guess…" Hiccup said, before joining the group.

I had to admit, Hiccup did have a point. I was mystified, perplexed that they thought I could lead. Not that it mattered, but I was the youngest in the entire group, besides the kids of course. They were all fifteen, and some, like Fishlegs, had already turned sixteen. I wasn't yet fifteen, and still had months to go until my birthday.

"Okay, let's go!" I called to Fishlegs, then gave a short whistle. "Axel! Come on!"

With my dog at my side, and Fishlegs walking beside me, we began to venture into the mixed wood forest.

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"I think this would be good in a remedy for vomiting… or was it this one?" Fishlegs said, looking between the two plants in his hands and at the pages of the book of botany. I glanced over my shoulder from my spot crouched in the bushes. Both plants looked very much similar, but they weren't exactly the same.

"The one in your right hand matches the picture. We can make the medicine when we get back, but we're going to need more plants," I said. Fishlegs put the plant inside the burlap sack he was carrying. The other plant, he simply tossed back into the bushes.

Axel padded over to me, panting despite the frigid temperatures, then began to run circles between Fishlegs and me. "Why did you bring him with us?" I heard Fishlegs ask. "I don't think he can pick plants very well."

"For a couple of reasons. First of all, he just spent all day strapped very tightly to a dragon, and I think he deserves to move around a little," I began in a sarcastic voice. "Second, we don't know anything about this place. We have no idea about who lives here, or whether they're… friendly. While Axel may not be able to fight off a large group of soldiers, he can at least give us a warning." I paused, looking at the wolf dog sitting passively a few feet away. "He's got a much better sense of smell than either of us."

"Fair enough. What've you got there?" Fishlegs asked, looking at the plants in my hand. I put on a triumphant grin.

"These, my friend, just happen to be a powerful ingredient to the poultice I'm going to make for Astrid's arm. Coupled with the plants we've already collected, it should tremendously decrease the risk of infection, as well as speed up the healing."

I looked up to see Legs giving me a quizzical glance, followed by a slight reddening to his cheeks. "How do you know that? How do you know so much about plants?" he asked, seemingly astounded.

"Does that surprise you?" I said in a light tone. "You're not the only brainiac."

"Well, you're an expert at hunting, you are amazing with animals and know a ton about them, and you're a master sword fighter. How many skills can possibly be packed into one person?" he asked. I thought about this for a moment, not before blushing a bit by the complements.

"Let's see," I began. "I suck at cooking, I can't lift anything that weighs more than Axel… in fact, it's amazing I could ever lift even him. I'm not very good at sewing, and cleaning is not my thing. There are plenty of things I'm bad at," I told him. "However, you learn a thing or two when you've been kicked by a bull moose, or been thrashed around by a wildcat. Hey, I've even been bitten by a venomous snake… on two different occasions." To my surprise, I laughed at this. "And that doesn't even include all the stuff that I've gotten myself into on Berk. You have to know how to make a medicine when you spend nearly all your free time in the woods."

"Impressive record," Fishlegs said. "Let's see, should I be worried or not? Are you accident prone, or would you help avert disaster?" he said, teasing.

"Ha ha. Very funny," I retorted, giving him a sly smile. I was beginning to really like Fishlegs as a friend. He was very easy to talk to. "Probably a bit of both."

Suddenly, his gaze shifted downwards. "You're still wearing it," he whispered, looking at my neck.

I looked down, bringing my hand to my neck and feeling the sharp edges of the teeth on the necklace. On one side were the smaller teeth of a Gronkle, and on the other side, the teeth of a Zippleback. In the center was the serrated front tooth of a shark pup. Memories swirled back to when they gave it to me. I had found the shark tooth on the beach while the group was showing me around the island for the first time, just before I got a burn from a pair of fighting Monstrous Nightmares. I'd kept the tooth after that. When my arm got infected from the fight with the wild pigs, and the healers were forced to amputate the limb, I was lying in bed for days, dying. When I woke up, they had been there with the necklace as a gift from all my friends, the shark tooth at it's center as the pendant. It was one of my better memories.

"I never took it off," I said, grinning at the way he smiled. He reached into his pack and pulled out the small wooden statue I'd carved for him as a Snoggletog gift. I'd carved one for each of my friends, and each statue was a different animal that corresponded with that person's personality. His was an orca, known as one of the most intelligent creatures. "You brought that with you?" I asked, stunned. We'd left in a hurry, and there was hardly any time to pack. We just had to grab what we could and leave. I was lucky enough to get out with my helmet, bow and arrows, my sword, my father's knife, and my backpack.

"Yeah, I um… I kept it in my bag, and grabbed my bag when we left," he said hurriedly. "I'm glad I had it in there, or else it would've been left behind."

I smiled, happy that he cared so much about my carving. Suddenly, Axel yipped a bit, and we both jumped in surprise. I looked around, not seeing any threat, and that wasn't Axel's warning bark anyway. What I did see, however, was that the sun was setting. We had to get back to the group before nightfall.

"Let's get going," I said. "I don't think it'd be a good idea to get stuck out here at night, especially since we don't know the terrain."

"Do we have enough plants to make the medicines?" Fishlegs asked.

"For now, yes. I just need the fever stuff and the plants for the poultice," I said, packing the plants into the burlap sack. "C'mon Axel!" I called, and the dog trotted over to me. "Good boy."

As we began the walk home, we listened to the wind brush against the trees, rustling the needles of the evergreens. Taller trees swayed with the wind, and as the freezing temperatures of night began to set in, loud cracks and groans could be heard from the trees. It was a common sound during winter, for the trees to moan as they bent or the sap in them froze. We had been following a game trail, a path made by animals as they walked along familiar routes every day. It was filled with vines and bushes, but was still quite easy to navigate even in the fading light.

"So, what are we going to do about dinner? No one's eaten all day," Fishlegs stated. "We're going to have to figure out a way to get food."

"Well, I can go out hunting tomorrow with Axel or Starsong. Tonight, though, we might have to go hungry," I said, as we went around one last bend in the trail. We walked in on the camp, twilight settling over, and my jaw pretty much dropped. Everyone was sitting around the campfire, roasting pieces of meat on sticks. Some of the children were wrestling, while others ate ravenously.

"Hey guys!" shouted Snotlout, upon seeing us enter with our shocked faces. "Surprise."

"How did you all get this meat?" I asked as Fishlegs and I sat down beside the others. I looked at Hiccup, who still had Erik with him, and gave him a questioning look.

"Don't look at us. This is courtesy of her," Hiccup said, pointing a finger towards where the dragons were laying. I followed the path of his finger, and my eyes fell on a certain royal purple dragon, whose serene green wings blanketed her as she lay there. Starsong.

I made my way over to her, patting her on the head. The dragon opened her pine green eyes, looked at me, and a small dragon smile played across her lips. She began to speak in Dragonese, her voice songlike and not rough like the voices of all the other dragons._ "Hello, Klara."_

_"I'm impressed, girl. You went out hunting for them?"_ I asked, and Starsong nodded. _"Thanks,"_ I whispered, hugging her.

_"Sure was a lucky catch. I was planning on getting a seal or something, but then another kind of prey presented itself. For some reason, a herd of red deer had wandered onto the beach, and I scooped up an older buck,"_ she said. _"Now, go eat."_

_"Thanks,"_ I said, running back to the group.

First, though, I had to check on Astrid and make the medicine. I walked up to her blanket, and was surprised to see her awake, sitting up, and with an angry scowl on her face. "How could you have Snotlout look after me? Of all people!" she hissed.

"I missed it? I was hoping to see you freak out when you woke up with him in your face," I said, stifling my laugh without very much success. I vaguely registered her making to pick up a stick and throw it at me. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. After all, I'm the one who's making your medicine."

"I hate you," she said.

"Well," I began with a laugh, "then I guess I've done my job!"

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**(A/N) Yeah, I think I forgot to mention this in chapter one. You will not understand this story if you don't read the first one. So yeah, go read it if you haven't already. Now, onto other business. What did you guys think of this chapter? Don't forget to ****_review_****. Reviews are currency to those of us who write these stories. Since we are not actually paid for writing, we receive "payment", so to speak, through reviews. So, please send me a review.**


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